Archive for the ‘Giro d'Italia’ Category

Giro news flash: Yolanthe is back and again we sing the praises of Angelo Zomegnan.

This is the man who’s single-handedly keeping the spectacle and sex appeal of cycling alive and well. While the Tour de France trots out old men in suits, Giro impresario Zomegnan always makes sure his events are heavy on eye candy. He’s the Hugh Hefner of the sport and the Giro is his personal Playboy club.

The presentation of the four prestigious jerseys of the 2010 Giro d’Italia took place at the Pitti Uomo exhibit in Florence. More accurately, it took place on gorgeous super babe Yolanthe Cabau Van Kasbergen, a 24-year-old Dutch actress, plaything and patroness of the 2010 Giro. What other tour is brilliant enough to have a patroness?

Yolanthe modeled the four leader’s jerseys for Giro winners Ivan Basso and Damiano Cunego — and guess what? They came to the near instantaneous decision that they must have that jersey. In fact, they’re hoping to join Yolanthe inside the pink micro-fiber garment.

Zomegnan continues to operate on a higher conceptual plane than other grand tour directors. This is a man who understands the Giro is about passion and desire, drama and sex. He takes a storytellers’ approach to designing his grand tour, with a near maniacal insistence on spectacle.

Crazy Z doesn’t care about mundane details like whether start towns have enough hotel beds or if rider transfers are too long and complicated. He demands pageantry and extravaganza. Hence his wild drawing board plans for a Washington D.C. Giro start. Zomegnan is a big picture guy and, like Lance Armstrong, he knows it’s not about the bike.

Welcome back Yolanthe. Not surprisingly the jersey looks exceptional and we’re Giro-jazzed. Another chapeau for the king of cycling showmanship, Angelo Zomegnan.

Riders complain about long transfers but this would only necessitate a measly eight hour flight and dealing with a six hour time difference. Those guys need to toughen up.

We like Crazy Z’s bold thinking. While the Tour de France makes the short, timid trip to the Netherlands, Z is pushing the envelope. His podium girls are hotter, his presentations are sexier and his vision grander. Talk all you want about Tour de France history, Zomegnan sees the glorious Fellini-esque future of the Giro. This man is not some route picker, he’s an artist.

The Giro thong is on.

Twisted Spoke says why stop at Washington D.C. when he can go even farther? How about starting in Rio de Janeiro, a Rio Giro? Pack up the Pinarello and the thong. Why not Kabul in Afghanistan — some great mountains nearby and cheap heroin. (Bring some Italian mine-sweepers.) The Taliban loved bike racing as long as you wear a full beard.

Is Antarctica out of the question? Sure, there’s no real population but imagine the drama, polar bears chasing the peloton. The fusion of lycra and fur. Alejandro Valverde might even borrow a dog sled.

Why not a short prologue on the deck of an aircraft carrier in the South China sea? These are the daring ideas that captivate a man such as Crazy Z.

A super cool Giro.

Oh sure, some riders will complain and protest. As Zomegnan once said, “it seems like their legs have become shorter and their tongues longer.” These skinny guys just know how to pedal a bike fast. The vision thing is not their thing — that’s Crazy Z territory.

What’s a 20 hour plane ride when the grand spectacle of the Giro is at stake?

Di Luca finished second overall in the Giro to Russian Denis Menchov of Rabobank.

“These adverse findings were a result of a targeted test programme using information from Di Luca’s biological passport, ” the UCI press release stated. “The system works, we are eradicating cake in the peloton,” said UCI president Pat McQuaid.

Could this mean a possible lifetime ban for the rider they call “the Killer?”

Often confused with CERA, the EPO derivative, SARAH –especially the Double Chocolate Layer Cake — is often used as a intense sugar boost right before a mountain stage. While not illegal for the average person with a sweet tooth, SARAH is on the UCI list of banned substances.

It’s an open secret that cake usage is rife in the peloton, with the coconut, coffee and classic Sarah Lee pound cake the most popular choices.

On Friday, the Carabinieri anti-drug unit raided Di Luca’s house near Pescara and the nearby residence of Dr Paulo Baruccione, the grocer accused of supplying the cake. They turned up nothing except a fork crusted with icing. The fork was taken away for further analysis.

While awaiting his B-sample, Di Luca maintained his innocence: “why would I eat cake? It’s fattening.”

Rabobank team mechanic Vincent Hendriks will definitely be receiving a Christmas card from Denis Menchov this year. There’s a good chance there will be a big, fat check inside, too. Because Hendriks saved Menchov’s Giro victory by being instantly ready with a spare bike when the Russian crashed in the final kilometer of the time trial. After sliding 30 feet across the wet cobblestones, Menchov jumped to his feet to find Hendriks already there with bike #2. The well-prepared mechanic earned his pay for the entire year in that chaotic 10 seconds of crisis.

Menchov remounted, did a fire drill finish and promptly went nuts with joy, screaming, foaming at the mouth and howling at the sky. The stoic and emotionless Menchov released all the stress of the three week tour in one long outburst. The man earned it, nearly doing an imitation of Kevin Garnett after beating the Lakers for his first ring. Menchov wasn’t speaking in tongues but he was getting there.

Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) put in a valiant ride, out of the saddle for most of the 14.4 kilometer time trial through Rome. No one could seriously fault his tactics or combativeness and he was a class act in defeat. He finished 41 seconds back on GC and on the second step of the podium with Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) in third. The final stage reward would go to Cervelo’s Ignatas Konovalovas who edged out Bradley Wiggins (Garmin) by a second.

There will be many toasts at the bar for the Rabobank team tonight but the loudest cheers will be for Vincent Hendriks, the super mechanic for the maglia Rosa winner, Denis Menchov.

If they awarded a jersey for Most Frustrated Rider, Allan Davis, the sprinter for Quickstep, would be wearing it with pride.

Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) stole the last hope for the last sprinter in the Giro, snatching the win with a powerful move in the final kilometer. Talk about frustration. Davis must be feeling cursed and abused by the Cycling Gods. First, Boy Racer Mark Cavendish (Columbia) destroys any chance of winning the early sprint stages. And if it wasn’t Cavendish, it was Alessandro Petacchi (LPR BRakes). But when Cavendish bailed out before the big mountains, Davis must have thought to himself, “okay, I’ll crawl and suffer and cough blood and get the mountains and I will be rewarded on stage 20. I’ll be the only fast man left.”

That’s a tremendous amount of self-inflicted pain to win a Giro stage but well worth it. He’d be the QuickStep hero, with Tom Boonen at home with his cocaine habit. After all, what other sprinters were left? Cavendish was now on vacation with his girlfriend and doing press for his new book. Petacchi’s legs were dead from working in the mountains for Di Luca. Who was faster than him now– Julian Dean, Ben Swift? The 203k stage from Naples to Anagni was as good as his.

The only hitch in the plan was Gilbert who had his own designs. He’d also marked this stage for victory and when he came round on the first lap through town, he picked his launch point. He caught the last sprinter in the Giro by surprise. A great win for the classics rider and a catastrophic turn of events for Allan Davis, the Giro’s Most Frustrated Rider.

Americans Danny Pate (Garmin-Slipstream) and Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank) gave us thrills and chills today. Along with five breakaway buddies, they both left an exhausted peleton behind after 55 kilometers. The escape was on, another exploit, our two irrepressible boys loose in the Italian countryside. Despite the efforts of Rabobank, Milram and Fuji (who both missed the break) nobody could bring them back.

With the finish line drawing near, both Pate and McCartney launched attacks. The final kilometers were a roller coaster of moves and counter moves, as the small group shattered and reformed. Pate was dropped and clawed his way back. With one kilometer to go, Dries Devenyns (Quick Step) jumped on the cobbled section and Felix Cardenas (Barloworld) chased, pulling Pate into his slipstream. Danny accelerated but was just nipped by Michele Scarponi and Cardenas.

Something is missing from this years’ 100th anniversary Giro. No, it’s not an epic climb left off the route or a famous rider or team that didn’t make the start list. Somebody forgot to include the once-a-Giro drug raid by police.

Where are the Carabinieri and the anti-drug storm-troppers? It has become something of a Giro tradition the last few years to have a drug raid as part of the race events. The authorities hit the team hotels, buses, rummage through the rooms and generally annoy the riders. Massages and pasta dinners and sometimes even bedtime are interrupted.

What happened to tradition, we ask? Not even one rider targeted for suspicious values? Perhaps the police and Giro Organizer Angelo Zomegnan (Crazy Z) worked out a deal for the 100th anniversary–no drugs raids this year in return for two raids next year.

We miss the excitement, the outrage and the goodies they always uncover: nice, new syringes, mysterious unmarked prescription bottles, a well- thumbed copy of the Dummies Guide to Performance Enhancing Drugs. What’s a three week tour without 21 stages, 2 rest days and 1 drug raid? A shocking over-sight. Surely, somebody is riding suspiciously fast, someone like, say, Denis Menchov.

We’d hate for Lance Armstrong to miss this Giro tradition in his only Giro appearance. It’s not too late for the Policia to bring the kind of excitement only they can bring.

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In our second installment of Dutch treats to celebrate the fast approaching Belgian racing season, we tackle the tantalizing subject of Belgian frites, the beloved Dutch snack. Bike racing and Belgian frites are so deeply intertwined in the culture that it’s fair to ask if one could survive without the other. There is no tour […]